Welcome to The Gafford Family blog.
We love and follow Jesus Christ faithfully and strive to be in His presence each day of our lives.
We want to honor Him in all we do.
We welcomed our first precious baby girl, Nyla Virginia, in July of 2010 and this blog is meant for family and friends to follow along with our journey as a new family of three.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

What happened to this year, it has flown by us? I guess looking for a house, buying a house, having a baby and becoming parents will do that to a person!

One of the things I'm most excited about this year is creating our family Christmas card. I love this Christmas season and receiving Christmas cards and everything about it, well except people's craziness and the traffic. I could do without those!

But this year, it's even more exciting around here. Our first Christmas with sweet Nyla! Wow, it's so weird to be writing that we have a baby this year. Last year at this time I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy, feeling exhausted, but thankfully not sick a single day. And now, she's here! Crazy!!!

I am so excited to get our Christmas cards out this year with our new family of 3!

Shutterfly.com is offering a great deal to all bloggers, for 50 free holiday cards when you write about them on your blog. What a great offer! Thanks for your generosity Shutterfly!

Here are the cards I'm looking at for our first Christmas card as a family of 3!

Love the color combo on this card. And I could easily turn my pictures into black and white to keep this similar theme on the card. A top contender!

"Love, Peace and Joy" is what I wish for everyone this year. So I do love this one a lot too.

I'm addicted to anything with our initials on it, this is why it caught my eye.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

It's really hard to believe Nyla is 4 months old already. I feel like I say that every time I blog on here, but it just seems to be flying by us so quickly!

I love the age she is now. She smiles all the time, talks and coos, her sneezes are adorable and she just thinks they're so funny, she's starting to laugh, and well, she's just plain fun!

She's in 6 months clothes now and has been for the last 2 to 3 weeks. She rolls over but ends up on her stomach and hates it, so she doesn't roll over anymore. She loves to stand on us or in her exersaucer (I think she'll walk before she crawls!). She loves being kissed all over her face and her smiles are endless. She even kisses back! She loves talking and laughing with Daddy and smiling at Mommy. She's such a joy!

We are beyond blessed with this gift from God. I am so thankful for her! I didn't think it possible to love someone immediately and for it to grow so much everyday. It really is unconditional love!

Here are some of her hilarious 4 month pictures. We love our sweet girl!

We have too much fun with this girl!

And we both couldn't stop laughing when we put the sunglasses on. She didn't know what the heck was going on!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

We went to the doctor last week and go okayed to start rice cereal and then baby food (after a couple successful weeks on rice cereal) which was very good news! Nyla's been extra hungry the past few weeks, she wasn't getting enough during the day and was very fussy. She even started waking up in the middle of the night again, unusual for her since she's been sleeping through the night since she was 7 weeks old. But all is good now. Rice cereal is going well and we are supplementing with formula. I never wanted to supplement with formula but she's happier and more content and that's the most important thing.

In other news, she weighed 15 pounds and 1.5 ounces at her 4 month check-up, was 26 inches long (or the length of a 6 month old...wow). Her weight is in the 90th percentile and her length is in the 95th percentile. These percentiles are nothing new since they've been off the charts since birth. She is one growing girl!

She started rolling over about 3 weeks ago, which was very exciting to watch. She was a big time roly poly for about a week and a half, but has slowed down now. She still hates being on her stomach for long periods of time, but is getting propped up pretty well now. She's at about a 45 degree angle and she'll probably be pushing up even further very soon. She loves to stand up and see things and is becoming unhappy when we try and sit her in our lap, she'd rather stand, silly girl. :) She holds her head up so well and is becoming less of a bobble head.

Because she loves to stand up, her Aunt Erin bought her an exersaucer (an early Christmas gift) and she LOVES it! She taps her foot on the bottom (yes she can reach), looks at all the lights and colors, accidentally presses the buttons and has a funny look on her face when she does and just loves it overall. We stuff a towel around her so she can sit up well in it, the seat is so big that she'd fall forward or backward if we didn't. But it was a great early present and we're getting a lot of use out of it. It's wearing her out and helping her take better naps, which I appreciate!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Wow! Little Girl is 16 weeks old, well, now almost 17! Her doctor's visit Wednesday went well. She checks in at 15 lbs 1.5 oz and an amazing 26" long, or what the average 6-month old should be! We've gotten the go-ahead to try rice cereal, and, well, that's an adventure!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

... Who feed their babies in the middle of the night - sometimes multiple times - well, I salute you. Your ability to operate on a lack of sleep is a God-given gift and talent that us dads and husbands are very thankful for.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

File this post away as "the one that got away" - or that I have been meaning to write for a long time but never got around to it. I would normally blame procrastination but actually have a much better reason.

Fatherhood is one of those things that, at least for me, you can prepare for but in the back of your mind know that you're not even remotely ready for. We found out a year ago that we were going to be parents. We found out 8 months ago that we were having a girl. Then in the middle of July, our little girl entered the world.

So how did that day go? I'm glad you asked, because you're about to get an inside look at what was going through this guy's mind.

The best place to start would be back in June, when G and I made two "trial runs" to the hospital because she had intense back pain which we thought could be back labor. I'll direct you here to get all the details. That experience helped us better prepare for the real thing - what to pack, where to go, layout of the hospital, and, for me, how much wi-fi there would be. A word of advice for fathers-to-be: take a comfortable pillow and blanket, because the hospital sofa is anything but.

Fast forward a few weeks later to a Sunday night/Monday morning. I was having some trouble sleeping, got up, and checked out the weather (shocker), which showed a line of thunderstorms approaching our area. After I finally fell back asleep, I awoke at 6 to get ready for work. There was one hiccup though. G was already awake and told me, "Babe, I'm having contractions." "Um.. what?!?" "I've been having them since 3:45 this morning." At that point, plans to go to work were abandoned (which turned out to be a good thing, because it rained ridiculously hard that morning), and I opted to work from home in the event of, well, you know. The day went on; the contractions continued every 15-30 minutes; and both of us went about our day as best as possible. Needing to get out of the house, both of us decided to head out to Sam's - just to walk around and enjoy what could very well be our last night with only two of us. We got back, ate dinner, and were going to play Mario Party 8 on the Wii... when we decided to go to Target. Again, another nice time for both of us to (slowly) meander around one of our favorite places.

By the time we got home, it was getting late. We were getting ready for bed when G expressed concern that her water may have been leaking. Not wanting to take any chances, we got our things together - calmly I might add - and made the 15-minute drive to the hospital. Another bit of advice for fathers-to-be: they're going to take your wife back for 5 hours 20 minutes to ask her some questions and make sure she feels safe with you; just be prepared to wait and be nervous. When they let me back to see her, she had progressed nicely, but the water had not broken, and our little girl was still not ready to arrive. After an hour, the nurse told us that, while we would have a baby in the next 24 hours, it was ok to go home, as nothing was really happening. We made the drive home, left all of our things packed, and climbed back into bed.

2:00 AM. I had been asleep for about an hour. My wife wakes me. "Babe, my water broke." Ok, time to go again. Now before I go any further, let me say that breakdoes not even begin to describe it. It was a flood that soaked the sheets on her side of the bed. So again, we climb in the car (bags still in the trunk) and arrive back at the hospital. One of the nurses that saw us earlier happened to be walking by as we were checking in again. G was showing me more water that was leaking. Said nurse saw said water running down G's pants and uttered, "Oh yeah, her pants are soaked. Admit her now." More waiting on my part. Phone call to both of our moms. Update facebook status to "Water break does not even begin to describe what just happened." Come back to room to see my wife.

The morning went on. The contractions got stronger. G was in more pain. The epidural was given. G was not in pain anymore. Our moms both arrived within 30 minutes of each other, claiming they couldn't sleep. That was ok with us. Their being there helped pass the time quicker. They also rocked the cafeteria and scored me some bacon and chocolate milk. Yes, I am 11 years old. Around 9:00, the nurse checked G and said it was time to start pushing. The moms left. And I tried my best to avoid passing out for 30 minutes while G started pushing. More advice to dads-to-be: be ready to use a cold washcloth for your wife... and yourself. Of course, you probably do hospitals better than me.

The pushing passed the one-hour mark. At that point, G's doctor came in to assist. G continued to push, but that little girl just would not move past one tight spot. The doctor laid out our options: keep pushing for an hour and hope she moves OR have a C-section. Neither one of us wanted option 2. But at this point, with little progress made in 2 hours, we both agreed that the C-section was best. I notified our moms of the situation, got dressed up in some scrubs, hat, and mask, and walked with my wife to the surgery room...

Or not. It turns out I had to wait out in a hallway before being let in to see her. Longest. 15. Minutes. Ever. The thoughts are running through my head a mile a minute. Is everything ok? Is Ginny ok? Is our baby ok? Why am I waiting out here? I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and looked up to see one of the doctors coming to get me. Once in there, I sat by Ginny as they had the sheet up, working to get Ny out. One of the doctors told me to get the camera ready. I stood up, watched as they struggled to yank Ny out, and then smiled as we heard the most beautiful cry ever. She was finally here!

I walked over to the nurse's station while they cleaned Ny up, gave her a vitamin K shot, and cleaned up the poo that Ny took all over the equipment. That's my girl! She was still upset, as one would expect when being yanked into a cold room. I started talking to her, and, in an effort to secure an early pony promise, she immediately stopped crying and actually turned her head toward me. (There's a picture a nurse took of me with my hands in a position that shows how much I wanted to hold her.) Oh, man. She had me from that point on. They checked her length - 21 inches. They checked her weight - 9 pounds, 8 ounces! Then they swaddled her up tight and gave her to me. Let me tell you this - nothing will EVER prepare you for the moment you hold a new life that you created for the first time. I think I spent the next 10 minutes just staring at her. I brought her over to a now-sobbing G, who was getting sewn up. Little Ny just laid there in my arms and looked up. Once G was patched up, off we went to recovery.

That was the first time G got to hold Ny, who was still alert and looking up at us. I took pictures with the camera and cell phone, preparing for the exclusive facebook photos. We both sat there, exhausted from a long night but in awe that our baby girl was finally here. This little life that grew in G's tummy finally entered the world in all of her beauty and innocence. Even today, I am still blown away by holding her or rocking her or feeding her or just staring at her. From one single cell to a now 15-week old, healthy girl. What a blessing she is.